Arizona

Democrats had hoped this could be the year that Arizona, with its surging Latino population, turned blue. But Republicans won the major races on Tuesday.

Mitt Romney carried Arizona, which has been considered a bastion of conservative politics since the days of Barry Goldwater, voting reliably for Republicans in every presidential race but one since the 1950s. Jeff Flake, a Republican congressman, won a comfortable victory in the race for the Senate seat being vacated by Jon Kyl, a Republican who is retiring.

Though some analysts had rated the race a tossup, Mr. Flake collected more than half of the vote compared with just 45 percent for his opponent, Richard H. Carmona, a surgeon general in President George W. Bush’s administration.

Four incumbent representatives won re-election.

Paul Gosar and David Schweikert, both Republicans, were easily re-elected in heavily conservative districts, while two Democrats, Raul M. Grijalva and Ed Pastor, also won re-election, according to The Associated Press.

Matt Salmon, a Republican, won the race for the House in Arizona’s Fifth District.

Joe Arpaio, the polarizing Republican sheriff of Maricopa County who has proclaimed himself the toughest sheriff in America, also won a sixth term. He had faced challenges from a Democrat and an independent candidate. Mr. Arpaio is a vocal proponent of cracking down on illegal immigrants, and two lawsuits contend that his department racially profiled Latinos.

Voters rejected a statewide ballot measure that would have made permanent a temporary one-cent-per-dollar sales tax to finance education and another measure that would have established a top-two primary system.

Democrats still had a chance to win a majority of Arizona’s nine Congressional seats, if they could win all three of tightest House races.

But in a surprising twist, Republicans appeared likely to gain the seat formerly held by Gabrielle Giffords. Ron Barber, the former chief of staff to Ms. Giffords, scored an emotional victory in the special election in June to replace his former boss, and redistricting gave him a district slightly friendlier to Democrats. But Martha McSally, a Republican former Air Force pilot, led by a little more than 1,000 votes on Wednesday morning, with all precincts reporting.

Two Democratic former representatives who were ousted in 2010, Ann Kirkpatrick and Kyrsten Sinema, also clung to narrow leads Wednesday.